


The Real Harry

by WizardingWorld97



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:49:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WizardingWorld97/pseuds/WizardingWorld97
Summary: Harry and Ron are fighting because of Harry being entered in the Triwizard Tournament. While Ron refuses to speak with Harry, Harry tries to repair their relationship.





	1. A Fight and Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> This is a small story I wrote nearly three years ago. I'm still not too ashamed of it so I figured I'd post it here.

**Chapter 1: A Fight and Revelations.**

“HARRY POTTER!”

Dumbledore’s shout after the fourth flame burst out of the Goblet of Fire kept ringing through Ron’s head. Harry was taking the spotlight, and not for the first time. Oh, how he wished he could have entered. But he wasn’t able to, and neither should Harry. But his so-called friend did the impossible, again, making all the lights fix on him.

And Ron was FURIOUS! Harry hadn’t even mentioned his plans to his ‘best friend’. Why had he lied?

Ron was wondering all these things while lying on his bed. The bed next to him, where Harry spend his nights in Hogwarts, was still empty. Harry was somewhere down in the castle, with Ron’s hero, Viktor Krum, that beautiful girl, Fleur Delacour, and that Diggory boy they had met just before the Quidditch World Cup final.

He was even glad Harry wasn’t here. He certainly didn’t want to talk to ‘Mr. I’m so famous’. Well, if it was up to Ron, ‘Mr. I’m so famous’ was now ‘Mr. I’m friendless’, effective immediately.

Suddenly the door to the dorms opened, and Harry walked in, seeming to be in a bad mood. Ron didn’t buy it. Surely the Boy-Who-Lived would be so happy he got into the Triwizard Tournament, or the Quadwizard Clash or whatever it would be named now.

_He could have been a star in one of those muggle films. His acting is good, I admit._

“Hey Ron”, Harry said.

“Bugger off.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing is ever wrong with the Boy-Who-Lived”, Ron spat.

“Come on Ron, you know I don’t want to compete. I didn’t put my name in the Goblet.”

“Sure you didn’t”, Ron said with a note of disbelief in his voice. Then he closed the curtains around his bed.

“Please, Ron, I need my friend”, Harry said as he opened them again.

“You should have thought about that before you put your name in the Goblet.”

“But I didn’t do that!”

“Even now you lie to your best friend? I thought we were mates, Harry. Apparently, I was wrong” Ron snapped.

“It must be so hard, being the Boy-Who-Lived” he said with a voice filled with sarcasm and something near hatred. “Now bugger off.”

Ron turned his back to Harry and tried to ignore him while he was pleading his case for 5 minutes. Figuring Ron would be okay the next morning, and went to his own bed. How wrong he was.

* * *

 

 

When Harry woke the next morning, Ron’s bed was empty already, which was odd. On Tuesdays, they wouldn’t have class until the third period, and Ron always managed to nearly be late to that class, due to sleeping in. Harry and Hermione always brought some breakfast with them for him, so he wouldn’t starve. Whatever he missed at breakfast, he made up for it at lunch though.

But now Ron was up and gone already. Harry checked the time. He hadn’t overslept, that was for sure. Harry decided to get up, and to find Ron for a talk.

When he left the boys dorms, he saw Hermione waiting in the common room. They always went together to breakfast, which meant that Hermione had to wait for Harry.

“Good morning, Hermione. Sleep well?”

“Yes, I did. And good morning to you too. I guess it must have been a rough night for you, after last night’s events?”

“It was, though nothing out of the ordinary. Have you seen Ron? He was already up and gone when I woke up.”

“I did see him walk by this morning. He seemed to be in a bad mood. When he saw me, he asked if I would come with him to breakfast. I offered him to wait for you instead, since we always go down together. Then he muttered something like _“Of course.”_ and stormed off. Did anything happen?”

“Last night he was mad at me. The reason wasn’t really clear though. It had something to do with me being entered in the Tournament, I think, though I couldn’t shake the feeling something more was going on.”

“You two should talk before Transfiguration, our first class” Hermione offered.

“My idea. I will try.”

But when they got to the Great Hall, Ron was nowhere to be found. When they later searched for him in the Common Room, just before Transfiguration, they didn’t find him either. They finally spotted him when they entered Transfiguration class five minutes before the start of their lesson. Professor McGonagall wasn’t there yet.

Ron was already seated, and Harry decided to sit next to him. As soon as he sat down, and opened his mouth to talk, Ron grabbed his stuff and went to sit next to Seamus.

Harry was shocked (and so was Seamus). He and Hermione couldn’t believe their eyes. Hermione took the empty seat next to Harry, while Harry stood up to talk to Ron. At that moment, McGonagall walked in and told everyone to sit down, so the lesson could start.

When the lesson ended, Ron packed fast and left immediately to avoid Harry.

This went on for the whole day. In the evening, Harry decided to wait for Ron in the dorms. He killed the time by pondering about the First Task. After nearly 2 hours, Ron entered.

“Ron, talk to me! What’s wrong? Why are you avoiding me? Why are you angry?” Harry started.

“Stop with the innocence! You know damn well why!”

“No I don’t, Ron. Just tell me. I just want us to be best friends, like before today.”

“I’m done with standing in the shadow of the ‘great’ Boy-Who-Lived! Why do you get everything? Why am I always ignored?” Ron complained.

“I don’t ignore you! You are one of the most important people of my life!”

“Sure I am, Harry.”

“And I don’t get everything. Not even close. You have more than I, though you don’t see it. You have a loving family, you had a youth, you were LOVED!”

“You don’t have five brothers, one famous ‘friend’ and a very smart friend to live up to! I’m done with all the shadows cast over me!”

 

* * *

And so the fight went on. And it didn’t calm down during the next few days. Ron withdrew himself from Harry’s company, and slowly lost Hermione as a friend as well. Harry felt worse each day, missing Ron’s company dearly, and hurt that he didn’t even try to believe him.

Three weeks later, Harry stated to Hermione: “I have to speak to Professor Dumbledore.” and left immediately.

Later that evening, Harry was talking to Hermione in the Common Room, discussing what Harry was going to do next. When Ron walked in, Harry said: “It’s time we should tell him.”

Ron was intrigued when he heard this, but didn’t show it. He knew that ‘him’ meant him, because they were looking in his direction. Hermione was looking rather shocked. Then Harry and Hermione walked over to Ron.

Harry began. “Ron, there is something you should know. It’s a plan devised by Dumbledore, for which he hired me and the Weasleys to make it succeed.”

“I’m so sorry Ron, I had just heard it from Harry, please don’t be mad” Hermione said with a trace of guilt in her voice.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, mate. Our recent fight made me see the light, and I convinced Dumbledore to tell you.”

“What is it? Out with it already!”

Harry waved his wand, and it seemed that some Glamour charms wore off. His black hair turned blond, and the scar vanished. “I’m not Harry Potter. You are.”


	2. Being Harry Potter

**Chapter 2: Being Harry Potter**

“What!? Are you joking right now?”

Ron just knew he was being fooled. It must have been some kind of stupid joke, supposed to make him forgive Harry. But when he looked at Harry now, or at least, the person he thought was Harry, his blond hair almost seemed natural on him. And he did seem older now.

“No Ron, this is not some kind of joke. I suggest that we should go to Headmaster Dumbledore to set things straight. Like I said, he is the one who thought this plan up.”

“I didn’t believe it either, Ron. But then ‘Harry’ told me about his real identity. He called himself ‘Proudfoot’. Supposedly he is an auror, assigned on duty to protect you. To be sure, I checked his story, and to convince, he even told me his training, quite detailed. I’m positive this is Proudfoot.”

“That is correct. I am Proudfoot, auror of the DMLE. A little over 4 yours ago, my task began to protect Harry Potter in Hogwarts itself. Dumbledore was aware that he wouldn’t be there to protect you all the time, so he called in a favor from the auror department.”

The confused look on Ron’s face told Hermione and Proudfoot that he had trouble processing this new information.

“I……eh……wha……are……What?” was all that came out of his mouth.

“I get it, it’s a lot to process, but I suggest we go to Headmaster Dumbledore for the full story. And I suggest we do so now, because curfew is coming closer.”

Taking Ron’s silence as confirming, Proudfoot dragged him out of the Common Room, towards the Headmaster’s office.

When they reached the gargoyle guarding the entrance to the office, Proudfoot spoke the password “Ice Mice”, to which the gargoyle responded by spiraling the staircase upwards. Proudfoot pushed Ron on one of the stairs, then stepped on one close behind him. They only had to climb a few more when the staircase came to a halt to reach the office. Proudfoot knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

When Dumbledore saw who entered, a smile crept on his face.

“Ah, auror Proudfoot, and Mr. Potter, welcome. I suppose you told Mr. Potter some parts already, auror Proudfoot?”

“Yes. I told him the basics of your plan, and my identity of course.”

“Are you sure this isn’t some kind of joke?” Ron seemed to have gained his speech back. “I c-can’t be Harry P-potter, right?”

Dumbledore sighed.

“Allow me to explain. After your parents, the Potters I mean, were killed, I thought it would be best if you were to be raised in a wizard family where you wouldn’t be spoiled, so you wouldn’t turn out to be a spoiled, famous brat. I selected the Weasleys, because they were a loving family, and they would be able to teach you the most important parts of life without having much money. And you turned into a fine young man, I must say. They raised you like their own son, and, knowing Mrs. Weasley, you will always be a son to her. When you were nearing the age to go to Hogwarts, I had to go into my plan a little further. People would expect Harry Potter to show up, after all. So I called in a favor from the DMLE, to have them lend me an auror to pose as Harry Potter.” Dumbledore gestured at Proudfoot.

“I was ordered to befriend you, so I could be by your side every day to guard you, but also to hold the projection of Harry Potter.” Proudfoot continued.

“B-but what about all our adventures? The troll in first year? The Philosopher’s Stone? The Chamber of Secrets? The night we met Sirius Black?”

“I used some of these events to test you, to see how you would react in certain situations, as example the troll, or me sneaking out to Hogsmeade during third year.” Proudfoot explained.

“Other events,” Dumbledore went on, “like the Stone and Chamber, were situations were auror Proudfoot felt the need to save the school. His hero complex is one of the factors which got him through the auror training with excellent remarks. And I remember him as quite the troublemaker when he went to school.” Dumbledore said with a smirk.

“And finally, the Sirius Black situation, well, we were kind of dragged into that one, weren’t we?”

“Moving on, all of your family knew about this. All your brothers and your sister, and of course your parents. You can contact your family members at home after we finish our conversation, if you would like to do so.”

“For the rest of the year, I suppose it would be best if we were to trade places. I would disguise myself as Ron Weasley, while you take your true identity as Harry Potter. We will do this to avoid confusion in the school. At the end of the year, we will be reviewing if I am needed for the next few years.” Proudfoot concluded.

“But what about the Triwizard Tournament? Didn’t you enter?”

“As said before, I didn’t enter Harry Potter. Someone else did. That was a huge disadvantage being Harry Potter. People want you dead, because of what happened to You-Know-Who.”

“Very well, I would imagine you would want to talk to the Weasleys. Allow me to Floo call them.”

After an emotional talk to the Weasley parents, Ron, or rather Harry, turned around to see that Proudfoot looked just like him, or rather, Ron Weasley. Dumbledore then waved his wand, and now he looked just like Harry Potter, or rather, himself.

“I would suggest you use the next few days to adjust to your new life, Mr. Potter. I would also advise you to have a talk with those who used to be your siblings. I would like to say goodnight now, as curfew will be effective in a few minutes. Sleep well.”

And that’s what Harry did. The next few days he spent to adjust to his new life. The only ones who knew were the Weasley siblings, Ron/Proudfoot, and Hermione. Dumbledore had promised to fill in the teacher when it would deem absolutely necessary.

A few days later, on Monday evening, Ron/Proudfoot asked Harry how his new life was.

“It’s all right, I guess. I mean, it’s quite hard to accept that everyone is against me now, with all those badges and stuff. It almost seems as if they hate me. And Snape fixating on me also isn’t the best part. But at least I have a lot of money now, so I ordered some tickets for a Chudley Cannons Quidditch Match in the Christmas Break. I was amazed they even play Quidditch so close to Christmas. It’s also great to own a Firebolt now. I’ve used nearly all my free time flying around.”

“That’s great. And is it hard to respond to the right name in class?”

“I got used to it a lot quicker than I thought I would. It’s kind of strange, but at the same time, it’s not.”

“Have you thought about the First Task yet? What are you planning on doing?”

Harry’s face lit up with an enthusiastic smile.

“I’ve been living towards the First Task for days. I mean, it is so cool to compete with my hero, Krum. And if I win, I will get a lot of money and eternal glory.”

“Right. On the First Task by the way, Hagrid wanted to see you. He asked if you could come to his cabin tonight, right after curfew. And he said you should bring your Invisibility Cloak.”

“Alright, I will see him then. Did he say why?”

“It had something to do with the first task, he said. Is it okay if I tag along?”

“Sure, why not?”

That evening, they were walking in the Forbidden Forest, underneath the Cloak, with Hagrid and madam Maxine in the open next to them. Then they saw the dragons. Maxine decided to go closer, and Hagrid, who was clearly in love, went after her.

“D-d-dragons? W-we have to b-battle d-dragons?”

And with that, Harry fainted, falling from underneath the Cloak. Ron/Proudfoot quickly pulled him underneath again, and dragged him back to the castle.

The next morning, Harry was frightened.

“We have to battle dragons? Why? That is too dangerous for students!”

“They did say no-one was allowed under the age of 17, and even then, they didn’t say it was safe for the competitors.” Ron/Proudfoot argued.

“How did you manage being Harry Potter all these years? A few days was even more than enough for me. Please, do it for me, cover for me.”

“You are already on the brink of despair? After only a few days? I told you that Harry Potter’s life wasn’t easy. But you only saw the money and the fame. And you want me to be Harry Potter again, so I will be in danger and you will be in the shadow again?”

“Y-yes, please.”

“Are you sure you want to life in the shadow of your brothers and your best friend again?”

“YES! Now please, I want to be Ron again. I don’t want to die battling dragons, in a contest I didn’t even enter, while everyone hates me.” Harry nearly begged.

“This is what I expected.”

“What?”

“I already thought you hadn’t seen the disadvantages of being Harry Potter, and that you wouldn’t have been able to bear them. That’s why Professor Dumbledore and I devised a plan. I posed as an auror guarding the real Harry Potter, and we let you believe that you were me.”

“I’m not Harry Potter?”

“No, you are Ron Weasley, as you always were. Hermione and I figured we would teach you a lesson, and after we contacted Professor Dumbledore and your family, they all agreed.”

And with a simple wave of his wand, Ron/Proudfoot turned into Harry Potter, and Harry turned back into Ron Weasley.

“Understand me, I needed you, while the whole school hated me and I was forced into a deadly contest. I needed my best friend.”

Ron was flabbergasted. “I-I-I’m sorry. I was way out of line. I should never have doubted you. I will never doubt you again. Please forgive me.”

And Ron kept his promise. He became Harry’s best friend again, and never wavered from his side. Later, people would refer to him as the most loyal person they had ever met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that concludes my very first fanfic, written 3 years ago


End file.
